Joel Salatin Makes Me Want a Better Larder

And I bet that title made you click...didn't it?

This week I went to hear Joel Salatin speak the the Michigan theater.  He is, let's say, the godfather of the chemical free, sustainable, and local food movement (all one, not separate).  He is the hero to many who are trying to self sustain, reduce waste, and feed their families and neighbors with food that is, well, good old fashioned "real food."  Without getting too preachy, I did take away a few life lessons and a new sense of momentum moving into the summer growing season.  Before I begin, let me look back at the notes that my nerdy friend took during the presentation, and then promptly emailed to me afterwards (we thought she was texting through the whole presentation.  newfangled fancy phones.)

Mr. Salatin has a few soap boxes that really resonated with me.  You see, at some point Joe and I decided that we wanted to be "farmers," on whatever scale, learning a little more each year.  We house hunted for a farm that we could plant roots in, literally.  Summer one was good, summer two will be better.  We believe in raising our child (or children) (infertility will get its own post someday) with their hands in the soil and their mouths stained with blueberries.  We grow what we can.  We pick, trade, and buy locally, but we could do better.  We put food in the larder/pantry....

Soapbox 1:  bring back the larder.  He spoke repeatedly of canning, freezing, and drying (dehydrating).  We do this of course, but we can do better.  Last year we put up 50 quarts of tomatoes, and a host of jams, jellies, apple and pear butters, applesauce, etc.  We bought and froze local meat for the deep freeze.  We picked berries till our fingers were stained...and still we ran out.  After the talk this week, Joe and I took stock of the larder and came up with this summer's plan based on what we have too much of and what we needed more of (I HATE buying out of season berries at Meijer)...which brings us to...

Soapbox 2:  Why do you need strawberries in Michigan in February?  Perhaps you should have thought ahead when strawberries were in season in Michigan, and canned, dried, and frozen more of them.  Of course we can't be perfect, but I think a balance in this concept is well worth thinking about.  How much fuel did it take to to get them here from California (or heaven forbid, Mexico)?  Trade and commerce is how this nation runs, so if you can't grow it here, you're going to have to buy it from elsewhere (coffee, chocolate, oranges, etc.)  But I think we've all been duped now and again when buying, say, a bag of apples, and not till we get home do we realize that they are Washington apples, not Michigan apples.  I.e...BUY LOCAL.

Soapbox 3:  Kitchen chickens.  If every kitchen had two chickens to reduce the amount of food waste in landfills, we could substantially reduce our garbage output...because chickens eat almost anything! (yes, some people throw food in the garbage, not in the compost bin.  sigh.)

Anyhoo, it was a night well spent.  Bottom line is that it motivated me to do better.  I'll let you keep tabs on me this summer.  We'll keep you posted on filling the larder!

I like a blog with pictures, so I'll just throw in some pics of last summers larder.  I love that word.

Dexter Blueberry Farm - Thank you Uncle Mark and Aunt Linda!

We did not larder the kitten, just the summer squash.

And I'm quite certain we did not larder the pie.  But Joe is so cute when is makin' pies.

If this was already on Facebook, I don't need to get his permission again to

 post pics of him canning in his undies...right?

Cider makin' at Uncle Scotties...we actually just took the last jug out of the freezer yesterday!

This last one may be my favorite.  One day in the fall neighbor Al called and said 

"Old man Carl has some old pear trees.  He isn't gonna pick em', so if you want em'"......yes please.  Ginger pear butter all day long baby.

The End.